This invention relates to loading heads for food articles such as sausages or franks. More particularly, this invention relates to a loading head device having a variable capacity buffer mechanism to compensate for the intermittent motion of an indexing conveyor.
Food articles such as sausages, franks, and the like are packaged after manufacture. This packaging is typically accomplished with a loading head which transfers these food articles into packaging trays positioned beneath the loading head.
To accomplish loading into packaging trays, some transfer conveyors of the loading head operate at various speeds. To increase productivity, food articles are typically continuously deposited onto the transfer conveyor regardless of its operating condition (i.e., running or stopped). U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,943 to Hart et al. accomplishes this continuous depositing of food articles on a transfer conveyor which oscillates back and forth with respect to the other portions of the loading head. While these styles of loading heads have solved some of the problems, other problems still remain. For example, the optimum rate at which food articles are packaged is limited primarily because the oscillation of the transfer conveyor has a fixed travel distance. Also, because of the manner in which the food articles are handled, the product is susceptible to damage. In addition, hinged gates mounted below the transfer conveyor typically utilize torsion springs to close the gates. These torsion springs frequently break and pieces may fall into the packaging. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new food article loading head.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a loading head that optimizes the processing rate for packaging food articles.
Another object of the invention is to provide a loading head that reduces the possibility of product damage.
A further objective of the invention is to provide a linkage system to control the operation of the hinge gates that is less susceptible to breakage.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art.